We Interrupt This Recap: 7 Years

This has been a pretty big year for us: new city, new house, new jobs...and while we have weathered lots of storms (mostly the meteorological kind) in the last 7 years, I have known so much love and happiness with this husband of mine.

Happy 7th Anniversary, Man Boo.

All Work and No Play...

...makes for a very boring blog.

The trouble with spending over 12 hours at work, then an additional 4 hours working from home every night, is that there is nothing to blog about except work.  Put into that the fact that it is generally not a good idea to blog about work and the blank screen staring back at me gets pretty intimidating.

(Don't worry about me -- I whine, but I do get to do fun things too!  Thanks for the post-work dinner, Kayla!  Ooh!  And thanks brunch on Sunday, Lindsay and Connie!)

Anyway, I realized that I never finished the Wedding Trivia -- so here is the final question:


What is Melissa’s favorite phrase that she picked up from her students?

a)      You big baldheaded boy!

b)     What d’do shorty?

c)     Oh-wah!

d)     I didn’t do nothin’! 

To be honest, I don't actually know which one I would have listed as my answer -- I actually hated ALL of these because of how many times I had to hear them.  If it is based on the phrase that I adopted as my own, it would have to be option "c".  The "Oh-wah!" is a perfect expression of shock at an "unjustified" accusation.  Of course, "unjustified" is in quotes because it was ALWAYS justified.  Always.

In Baltimore at the beginning of the decade, "a" was the worst insult one 3rd grader could throw at another 3rd grader.  And "d" gives me indigestion just to think of...I had to listen to "I didn't do nothin'" about 25 times a day.  *shudder*

And so ends wedding trivia.  Can't believe it took me so long to get around to finishing that up...hooray for procrastination...and now: bed.

Guhlers Goodness.

Work is really, really busy right now.  I haven't gotten to post about some of the happenings over here lately.  Since tonight was a pretty late night at work, I left my computer there and gave myself the rest of the night off.  So tonight, I will share some pictures of the fun we had in Olean, NY a couple weekends back celebrating the first year of marriage of our friends Ari and Heather.  (They had gotten married very quickly last year and did not have a wedding to celebrate it with friends then.)

It was fun times!

 It was a gorgeous day -- sunny in the afternoon during the ceremony, and after the sun went down, we got a big thunderstorm that put on a great electrical show over the mountains in the evening.  We played Cornhole (which I guess is just a beanbag toss) and caught up with friends...saw plenty of hilarious dancing...it was a pretty great night.

Cold Feet, Warm Heart.

As much as I enjoy clicking on the bookmark to my blog and seeing Jamie Bamber looking back at me, it is also a little creepy.  Especially since, the screen cuts off before his towel comes into the picture and it makes it look like he may be nude.  And this is not that type of website.

That means, it must be time for the second to last Longzaki trivia question!

6. What is the worst part about sharing a bed with Jamie?

a)       gas

b)      cold feet

c)       flailing arms

d)      all of the above 

This one was actually a gift to our friend/officiant/blog contributor/all-around-awesome guy, Drew.  You see, aside from me, the only other person who had to suffer through Jamie's cold feet in bed was Drew (and maybe one or both of his brothers).  I'm quite certain that Drew's team was the only group to get this one right.  I don't know why they shared a bed -- maybe something to do with their singing group -- but I do know that I earned Drew's utmost respect for being able to share a bed with Jamie's frigid feet.

Maybe Jamie is a vampire (and one reader of my blog will get that.  You know who you are.)

Fortunately for me, the answer was not "D".  In fact, I am the one who does gymnastics in my sleep.  To the point where the cats know not to sleep by me unless they enjoy the thrill of hurtling through the air when I kick them in my sleep.  Jamie on the other hand, sleeps like he's in a coffin with his arms straight at his sides or folded neatly on his chest.  Maybe he IS a vampire!

Like A Prayer.

This trivia sure is being stretched out over many, many weeks!  But, we are getting to last few questions...

6. What was Melissa and Jamie’s first dance?

a)      Tubthumping – Chumbawamba

b)     I’ll Make Love to You – Boys II Men

c)     Thriller – Michael Jackson

d)     Like A Prayer – Madonna 

Our first dance was at Man Boo's 17th  birthday party to which I was invited the previous weekend when we had flirted shamelessly at a different friend's party.  It should be noted that I am a terrible dancer, and back in those days, I absolutely never danced.  It was the first time I had been to MB's house, and they had decked it out for his birthday -- complete with a whole DJ setup.

It should be testament to how big my crush was, that I said "yes" when Jamie Man Boo asked me to dance.  We danced to Like A Prayer...which is a REALLY LONG song to dance to when you don't dance.

In the end my 5 minutes and 39 seconds of teenage awkward dancing landed me a husband so I guess it worked out.  Of course, this dance had to be the last song that played at our wedding.  It has also been the last song to play at several other weddings...because it is that awesome.

As another side note, a Carleton tradition is for all of the girls to take off their shirts when this song plays.  I have witnessed it...just...wow.  I am forever grateful to all of the Carleton alum who were at our wedding and did not take off their clothing.  That may have changed the tone of the evening.

Animal House.

Slowly but surely…here’s another trivia question.

6. Which of the following is not a pet that Melissa has owned?

a)     monkey

b)     parrot

c)     turtle

d)     frog

This was one that my family would have been able to get pretty easily.  I have never owned a turtle.  In writing this post, I began to list all of the pets that I have owned in my lifetime and realized a couple things:

·      I have had a surprising variety of pets in my lifetime

·      I have had many pets in my lifetime – so many that it would be boring and sad to list them all

·      I am not very creative when it comes to naming pets.  Especially when I was really young.  To give you an idea, my first pets were a parakeet named Pinky, a rabbit named Brownie, and a parrot named Feathers.

When I was in 2^nd or 3^rd grade (I don’t actually know because my elementary school did not have “grades”), Los Angeles was hit by some incredible storms.  Schools were shut down for days because massive rivers of water were running down streets and mudslides were burying roads.  My house had this giant backyard, and during the floods a big stream came running through our yard and I would spend hours sending twigs down the flow to watch it go through the different channels.

Anyway, our “river” started by a lagoon of sorts, which became the breeding ground for hundreds of frogs.  Since our 2^nd/3^rd class was studying the life cycle, I brought in some tadpoles so we could watch them turn into frogs.  I was the coolest kid that year, because everyone wanted me to bring them frogs. 

The monkey came years later during a trip to the Amazon.  No.  I did not try to sneak the monkey into the U.S.  It lived in Peru and I would play with it on my visits.  And no.  I hadn’t seen Outbreak yet -- such a great movie, with such a horrible last line.  Don't remember?  Skip to 7:40. (I should also warn you that this clip picks up at a pretty climactic part of the movie, so don't watch it if you have never seen the movie and intend to...)

I should mention that this movie is great. I love this movie (it has MORGAN FREEMAN in it!) The fact that it is so great, is what makes that last line so horrible.

Williams Weekend.

What a weekend!  After having a great time with Man Boo's family in D.C., we had to motor over to Williamstown (well, Pittsfield) for a wedding.  It had been a very long time since I had been back to Williams, and I was really excited to see it again.  Not to mention spend time with the old Williams crew.

Man Boo and I tried to avoid going through New York...and somehow ended up at Princeton University.  On Reunion Day.  We were not happy.  But we did make it to Williamstown eventually.  Fortunately for us, we had some pretty fantastic weather.

Of course, the main event for the weekend was the wedding of our friends Lindsay and Noah.  

The ceremony took place in front of a lake and the sun was shining down on us -- with a great breeze!  Dinner and dancing followed and good times were had by all.

 This was our sad, sad attempt at spelling out Williams.  I enjoy Abby's backward "S".

As we posed, I could not get out of my head that You Tube video where the wedding party broke the dock.  So glad that dock remained intact.  

Yet another reason to celebrate was that it was also Abby and Samir's first anniversary...

This is them double-fisting drinks when they each oh-so-cutely got the other drinks at different bars.

All in all, a pretty great weekend!  Man Boo and I drove back today...this time, avoiding Princeton.  Being too cheap to invest in Books on Tape and not having time to go the library, we decided to pull a fun book from our shelves and just read aloud to each other.  We returned with a couple chapters of Murder on the Orient Express (courtesy of Man Boo's mother) to spare, but managed to finish on our trip up to Dulles airport when I dropped Man Boo off for this week's trip to Denver.

If you are fortunate enough to have a driving partner who has a pretty good collection of accents under his sleeve, I highly recommend the frugal book on tape option.  Poor Man Boo had to suffer through my inability to do any other accent that American and bad British.  I think the book probably had a different feel when Hercule Poirot was a British guy.

Do a Good Turn Daily.

Life's been busy lately!  While I don't have the mental capacity to think about what has been keeping me so busy (it's mostly boring anyway), I do have enough to do some trivia!

What was Jamie’s Boy Scout nickname?

a)       Lamie

b)      J Lo

c)       Golden Boy

d)      Slick 

This was one of the ones that I thought no one would get.  Seeing how we only had a couple high school friends present -- none of which were boys -- I figured this was the one that people would have to just pick randomly.

The correct answer is "a".  It is also as creative as the average 11 year-old boy can get.  Lamie went on to be an Eagle Scout -- of which I am extremely proud.  When we first started dating, I listened to tales of his Boy Scout adventures.  I attended the aforementioned tree plantings (which were part of his Eagle Scout Leadership Project).  I proudly sat through his Eagle ceremony.  Fun fact!  Lamie asked Jon Tesh to be his "Voice of the Eagle"...which is just hilarious.  He made a pretty good Voice of the Eagle.  If anything, he is just a very nice guy.

I did not realize how proud I was that Lamie was an Eagle Scout until I got much older and realized that every Eagle Scout I met also happened to be an amazingly-accomplished and awesome guy.  If I'm paying attention, I can spot an Eagle Scout within 10 minutes of conversation.

I'm still bitter that girls don't have a camping/hiking/survival/tree-planting equivalent.  Selling girl scout cookies does not an Eagle Scout make.

PDA.

Did you vote for us?  Good!  Now on to trivia.


5. Which of the following was not something that high school teachers called Jamie and Melissa?

a)         A pair of dogs

b)        The young lovers

c)         The first high school couple they know to get married

d)        Jalissa 

Jamie and I started dating right after his 17th birthday.  This means that we spent our "honeymoon" period as hormonal, lovey-dovey teenagers.  I still cringe at the thought of how lovey-dovey we were in high school and would like to formally apologize to my former schoolmates.  Of course, I am not really in contact with any of those people these days -- with the exception of my beloved brother-in-law, Scott -- and I think he has to forgive us despite being subjected to the worst of it.

Anyway, I plead guilty to PDA in high school.  While the PDA made it abundantly clear that we were together, nobody called us "Jalissa", having not gone to school with Trent Vanegas or Perez Hilton.

We were, however, called a pair of dogs by Jamie's math teacher.  I very vividly remember being at my locker and Jamie giving me a quick hug in passing.  At which point, Mr. Metzger whirled around on us and called us dogs, citing that where he grew up they would throw water on dogs who were doing that (hugging?).  Jamie and I were both shocked into silence.  The next day Jamie gave me a Milk Bone.

U.S. History was the only class Jamie and I had together 1st semester Junior Year (it was a big deal when he changed his seat to move next to me...friendship bridges were burned.)  Every day before class, Jamie and I would wait outside catching up on our days.  When our teacher, Mr. Maddock, arrived he would say "Okay, young lovers, it's time for class!" and continue into the room.  Mr. Maddock was awesome by the way -- and clearly had a soft spot for Jamie and I.  I speculate he liked the interracial relationship.  Or maybe it was that I was obviously the reason why Jamie started doing so well in History all of the sudden.  (I'm kidding.  That was English.)

Finally, we have been called the "first high school couple [they/I/we] know to get married" by many, many people when it comes out that we were high school sweethearts.

Interestingly, as I was going back to fact-check teacher names, I saw that my high school was rating as one of the "America's Best Prep Schools" by Forbes.  To that I say, "thank you mom and dad, for the hard hours you put in to get my foot in the door.  And thank you, big brothers, without whom I would not have even been admitted into said school."

The Longest Time.

This week is just dragging along.  At work, our 3rd graders have been hard at work taking the DC-CAS (which is the standardized test that determines whether or not our school makes AYP.)  It's a big deal.  Even though I'm not the one taking it, I am exhausted from it.  I think when the test booklets are around you just have a higher baseline of stress.

You know what's good for stress?  Trivia!


2) What was Melissa and Jamie’s first interaction?

a)            riding on the bus together in Junior High

b)           attending the same Elementary School

c)            playing in the same soccer league

d)           sitting together in High School art history 

So, Man Boo and I went to the same middle and high school.  While I can't remember the first time I saw him, or the first words ever exchanged, I do remember seeing his blond head of hair bouncing around in the front of the bus.  I was in the back of the bus with all of the other miscreants.  Actually, I was in the back because I was among the first to get on that bus..........at 5:20am every morning.  Man Boo, on the other hand, boarded the bus at the very last stop.  We never spoke.

My first Jamie-specific memory comes from ninth grade when I attended some singing concert and he and three other boys sang The Longest Time.  The quickest way to my heart is through Billy Joel.  I remember thinking that he was the cutest of the bunch.  Then we started dating two years later.  Okay, so maybe it wasn't the quickest way to my heart, but it made an impression.

Now that I think back on it, I also remember thinking that he could snap really loudly -- it was distracting me from the song.  This is funny to me now because he likes to make fun of the fact that I am unable to snap.  He enjoys emphasizing how pathetic that is by doing one of his "sonic snaps" whenever I make my feeble attempt.

Next time you're with him, ask him to snap -- it's uncanny how loudly he can do it.

Trivia.

All this talk of anniversary had me reminiscing about my wedding with one of my dear friends recently.  Chances are, if you are reading this blog and you weren't there, than my wedding was pre-our friendship.  Really, the only person I can think of who fits that description (i.e. who is a new friend and who actually reads this blog) is Kayla.  (Hi Kayla!)

Anyway, Kayla, at my wedding (which was awesome -- although I'm very biased) we had some Melissa-Jamie trivia.  My one regret about my wedding -- and I don't regret the giant thunderstorm -- was the fact that we never went over the answers to the Melissa-Jamie trivia.  As is usually the case, the stories behind the answers are funnier (or more cutesy) than the actual answer.  So, when I was talking to my friend about the trivia the other day, she suggested that I actually blog about the answers.  So in the spirit of "It's the month before our anniversary so let's celebrate!" I will.  Of course, I will do this in Zakisauce fashion and just post one a day...it makes it easier for me to think about things to say.  Also, I'm meeting up with a Williams friend tonight for dinner and I gotta be quick!

Question #1 was:

1. What is the name of the restaurant where Melissa and Jamie went on their first date?

a)       Paul’s Pizza Parlor

b)      AB Seafood

c)       Kung Pao Palace

d)      Noodles n’ Pancakes 

Gah.  I kind of wish the first question was more interesting or funny.  Otherwise you all might not buy into this latest project.  Oh well.

The answer is AB Seafood -- which was an awesome Chinese restaurant next to a gas station by our house.  I seriously have no idea how our family discovered it.  But it was GOOD.

Man Boo and I had planned on going to dinner and then seeing You've Got Mail afterwards, but we ended up just talking and talking and talking at our dinner until we missed our movie.  In retrospect, I'm glad I missed You've Got Mail -- because, c'mon.  Really?

It's the sad cousin of Sleepless in Seattle.

Maybe if we had seen that movie, we would never have fallen in love because of the bad memories.  As it was,  Man Boo and I went back to my house and popped in a Sarah McLachlan CD (it was the 90s, after all) and continued to talk (and talk).  Eventually, somewhere in that talking, Man Boo officially asked me to be his Lady Boo -- he is very gentlemanly that way.

To this day, we have not yet seen You've Got Mail.

Gleeful.

Wow. I'm way behind in my posting. Work picked up and I haven't had much of a free moment. But, right now, I'm sitting in a hotel in lovely Hershey, PA after having gone to a great wedding for our dear friends Angie and Dan. Good times!

Every time I come to Pennsylvania I decide that it is a really lovely place. Hershey is no exception -- and as an added bonus there is chocolate everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Interestingly, they do not leave chocolates on your bed at the turn down service at the lodge where we're staying.

The wedding was beautiful, of course. Angie being very crafty (I mean it in the Fraulein Maria crafting playclothes for the children out of curtains sort of way -- although she is also very intelligent) there were so many gorgeous homemade details. There was the beautiful flower in her hair made using lace from her mother's and grandmother's wedding dresses. There were the "homemade" pies and napkins. Just, so many details.

The ceremony and reception took place at Dan's family farm. While it did rain, everyone had a blast and it made the dancing to the live bluegrass band even more fitting somehow. Besides, we all know that rain during weddings is good luck.

This wedding was genuinely fun and we had a blast...it was such a nice group of people...

----
So, life has been good! As I mentioned, work has been crazy. One of my favorite ways to unwind lately is in watching Glee. If you haven't seen it -- you should. Jamie doesn't watch much t.v., but even he likes it. There is something about a T.V. musical that is awesome.

Anyway, in this last episode, there was some dancing to Beyonce's "Single Ladies" (of Kanye West/Taylor Swift fame.) As mentioned before, there are few things that Jamie will watch over and over again. One is Alec Baldwin playing Tracy Morgan's dad in 30 Rock:

The second is the "Let's Go to the Mall" music video from How I Met Your Mother:

And NOW, the football dance from Glee. He has, in fact, asked to watch it before we go to bed every night since it aired. (Obviously, watching this clip may spoil the ending of the episode...but worth it)

Good T.V. You can see all of the episodes on Hulu.com. Do it.

The only problem with watching that clip repeatedly is that the Beyonce song has been in my head for the past few days. It's an annoying song to be in your head...but it might be worth it to get it stuck in your head if only to watch this baby dance! (I'll be honest. That baby looks kinda like I do when I'm watching Glee.)

A Wonderful Day.

I don't have time for the full update yet, but I will just say that the wedding was perfect.

Finally: an Update!

Yikes!  So much to say in not enough time!

I'll do this in chronological order.  I guess the first big development was my bout with H1N1.  That's right: SWINE FLU.  

Now that I am completely in the clear, I am able to blog about it.  So, remember when I was sick a little while back?  Well...I had a "probable" case of the virus.  In all honesty, I don't really think that I had it, but I guess when you work in a school, and you're dealing with a "pandemic" you don't monkey around.  

I called my doctor who told me not to go to the emergency room, but rather had me list all of my symptoms and their progression.  After listening to me he said:  "Yup.  Sounds like Swine Flu."  Couple that with the fact that I was in close quarters with someone with a confirmed case of

 Swine Flu right around the time I started getting sick and it was enough.  The Powers that Be at work called CDC and I spoke to a CDC person who listed me as a probable case, but me on a map and told me I had to stay in the house for the next three to seven days.  Three!  To SEVEN???  

Since I did not know I would be home, I did not bring my computer home.  Nor was I allowed to go to work to pick up my computer or bring home work to do.  So, I was on a forced vacation.  Except I couldn't leave the house.  (I slept.  A lot.)

Next up: Jamie and I ventured to Ann Arbor, MI!  For Robin and Joe's wedding!

The Carleton Crew.

It was an absolutely beautiful wedding -- the bride was gorgeous, the weather was perfect (no rain), the people were high-spirited, and there was lots and lots of dancing.

Which brings us to this weekend, when Abby and Samir are getting hitched!!!  I cannot wait for Lovefest 2009!  I am nervous about the toast...but I generally find that I am not a mess when it comes to speaking about things (or in this case, people) that I love.  And I love Abby and Samir.  You can count on me posting weddingful updates on this blog when I get back.  I might even be twittering throughout the day...that is, if I remember.

Honeymoon: Day the Last.

Sadly, we are nearing the end of our honeymoon but we made sure to get a lot of sights in today. We started our morning with a trip to Sunshine Meadows. On the way we ran into some pretty awesome Big Horn Sheep! There were a bunch of them -- including a baby. Very cool.

Another animal to check off on our little list. We had seen bear, elk (it was an elk and not a deer dammit), deer, and a whole bunch of littler critters in the wild.

Shortly after we set off on our hike in Sunshine Meadows we ran into a MOOSE. A real, live, moose with big ol' antlers and everything. We had startled it -- it was only about 20 feet from Jamie when he noticed us and took off. Two things I knew about moose before today: 1) they are elusive, and 2) they are mean. Two things I learned about moose today: 1) they are BIG this guy was about 7 feet tall not counting his antlers and 2) despite being BIG they are able to run very quietly. Sadly, the moose visited us so early in our hike that I didn't even have my camera out. I took a couple shots of the inside of the lens cap instead. But...I swear we saw a moose!

We did a nice 12km hike to, above, and around Rock Isle Lake and Laryx Lake through gorgeous alpine meadows.


Afterwards, we went to Bow Glacier and enjoyed the view from the summit. Sadly, the camera could not capture the amazing colors of all of the places we visited.


Sad to go, but we still have an evening...for which I should probably start getting ready...

Honeymoon: Day Five

Today we had some fun times exploring the deserts of British Columbia before making our way to Kamloops and eventually Sun Peaks. We decided to stop in at the British Columbia Wildlife Park given my love for all things that are made for kids. We figured we would get to see some of Canada's wildlife just in case we weren't able to catch them in our travels.

One of the best parts about this zoo, was that it was pretty much empty. We were able to get really close to the animals without having to crane our necks over fathers with kids on their shoulders. Seriously there was little more than a wooden fence between us and most of the animals. Had I felt like my right hand was unnecessary for life, I could have reached out and pet Mr. Grizzly Bear. It was nice.





















The other great thing is that in Canada there are none of those foolish scruples of protecting the kids from seeing carnage so we got to see plenty of the animals during feeding time. Although the bears mostly ate fruit, there were definitely some bunnies in with the eagles. Sorry vegetarians.






Hopefully we'll get to see some of these animals (well, except for the cougar since they're not so much from these parts) in their natural habitat tomorrow as we make our way to Banff.

Anyway, what I really want to talk about is the hotel we stayed at in Whistler. I booked it because it was among the better deals I could find, and because it looked like fun. Seriously, the room was crazy -- it had a fake fur everywhere and all these crazy details. Some were awesome (ie: the iPod alarm clocks), and others were just bizarre (ie: the oxygen dispenser). We stayed in a loft suite which was most excellent. The place is recommended if you're ever in the Whistler area and you want something different.

The plan for tomorrow is to get to Banff in one piece and enjoy a big hike to the lakes and meadows Banff has to offer. Hopefully I finally get a picture of these alpine meadows I've been hearing about...

Oh! And today we got our first honeymoon nod at the hotel. Chocolate-covered strawberries in our room. Yum!

Honeymoon: Day Four

Superquick update since we're about to have some breakfast before heading out to Sun Peaks. Just wanted to share some pictures from our hike around Whistler Mountain yesterday...
















Needless to say, the hike was gorgeous, if not a little stressful when hiking across steep mountain faces on snow. Next time, I'll bring a big stick.

Honeymoon: Day Three

Hooray for free internet -- at least I hope what I hope is free internet!

We left Tofino bright and early this morning and headed back to Vancouver for an afternoon at Stanley Park before making our way to Whistler. Thankfully the ferry was much less painful this time around.

One of the many lakes on Vancouver Island.

We stopped at the Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park once we got back to the mainland. There we got to see some Beluga whales among other fun Canadian wildlife. Good times were had.

The elusive Californian Cadfish.

We had a pretty great meal tonight in Whistler. For the first time ever, I sent something back because it was overcooked. I felt bad doing it, but since we were paying so much, I figured it would be okay. Lo and behold we got our dinner at half-price and with free desserts and coffee. Most excellent. Although given the amount of guilt I felt at sending it back, I don't know that I will be doing that anymore...

Tomorrow we will be hiking around Whistler and I will be taking lots and lots of pictures.

Weeeeeee!

Honeymoon: Day One and Two

So we're in Tofino, Canada and having a wonderful time so far. It's absolutely gorgeous here, and I promised some pictures.

This is some crazy crustacean that we found on our tide pool excursion. An entire piece of driftwood was covered with them. Points to anyone who can identify them.

It was a pretty eventful trip to get here yesterday. Our flight left at 6:30am, so we were up at 3:30am and in line at the airport not too long after. I should have taken the huge line at the Customer Service counter as a bad sign, but we sat in the line for a good long hour. When we finally got there, ticket lady informed us that our flight had been canceled. Which was funny since I had checked us in a mere 8 hours earlier. Jamie and I have terrible luck traveling together, so I immediately envisioned a Miami redux.

I am embarrassed to say that my eyes may have welled up a little as I sputtered that the flight couldn't be canceled because it was our honeymoon and ticket lady was able to book us on the next flight out of there (3 hours later) and even gave us the exit row. While annoyed that Alaska Airlines decided to cancel the flight for no apparent reason, and that we (Jamie, I and Jamie's poor dad) had to get up so early, I was happy that we were able to bypass the entire customer service fiasco.

Oh, but the chain of events that would be caused by that flight cancellation. Needless to say, the later flight put us at peak time for customs, for traffic, and for the ferry to Vancouver Island. We ended up getting to the hotel at 11pm -- a far cry from the 3pm we had originally envisioned. After having to cancel our dinner reservation, we were starving and the nice hotel person was able to scrounge up some room service for us despite their being closed.

We are currently staying at the Wickanninish Inn. It is probably among the nicest rooms that I have ever stayed in and it's absolutely gorgeous with a view of the beach. Despite rain (a recurring theme in my marriage to Jamie) we walked the beach and played in the tide pools and visited the cute little town of Tofino (pop: 1400). Anyway, if anybody is ever interested in visiting Vancouver Island, "The Wick" has our stamp of approval.

We're leaving pretty early for our next destination at Whistler tomorrow. Hopefully they will also have complimentary internet -- although that is pretty unlikely. I will update with more pictures as soon as I get the chance...

Lovefest Wrap-Up.

I have to admit that I have been putting off posting about my wedding because it was a very daunting task. There is just so much to write and a ridiculous number of pictures. Here goes...










We chose Elkridge because the staff seemed the most friendly and the most competent. Since neither Jamie nor I knew what we were doing, this seemed to be the best route to go. Ultimately, I am very glad we did because they did an incredible job despite the few curveballs that got thrown their way. Especially that storm.

When we were signing the contract, we were especially drawn to the ceremony site -- I mean, it's gorgeous! So I was dreading the thought of rain...as it turned out, it was awesome. It was especially great because it wasn't a dinky little sprinkly storm -- it was an all-out storm. So, even though we had to move indoors, the storm effectively drew attention away from the fact that I was a sweaty mess and that my bridesmaids had to water me and fan me off right before the ceremony.

See?

Ultimately, whether indoors or out, Jamie and I were married and that is pretty great. Drew, feel free to use the picture as an advertisement for all of your future officiating ventures. You were also amazing under the pressure of Mother Nature.

I have a ton of pictures from the reception but I'm not sure who would take offense at me putting their pictures online so I'll withhold most of them for now. But there are a couple of gems that I need to put up if only because I think the people in these pictures may be the only ones who actually check this sad excuse for a blog.

Looking at my pictures makes me all nostalgic despite the fact that our wedding was a mere two months ago. Still...the night went by SO fast that it feels like it happened much longer ago. Fortunately, I was able to see friends again at another Williams wedding last weekend (congrats Jamie and Joel!) and it was so nice being able to bask in the wedding love of others.

Thanks again to everyone who could make it -- having you there made the night even more special...

Also, can I just say, that going through the pictures of the Father-Daughter dance was just SO painful because I'm sobbing in every single one of them. Then I discovered that looking at the people watching behind us made it great because they were all crying too and their crying faces were just as funny-looking as my crying face...well, not really...but it was a relief nevertheless.

Finally, what I feel is my greatest accomplishment for the wedding (aside from somehow getting my best friend to marry me):

Our program: the one casualty of the storm.

(Don't worry, you know I totally made myself another one when I got home.)